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The Tombsward Catacombs is one of Elden Ring's many mini-dungeons that contain an array of worthwhile rewards. This exciting dungeon can be found in the Weeping Peninsula, south of the starting area of Limgrave. It's rife with skeletons and a scary-looking boss, the Cemetery Shade.

Related: Elden Ring - Combat Basics, Tips, And Tricks

Completing this catacomb dungeon will give you access to the incredibly useful Lhutel the Headless Spirit Ashes, which will allow you to summon the eponymous Lhutel in battle. This particular spirit is worth acquiring to add to your repertoire, as it can be especially effective against a variety of enemies once it's been upgraded.

Tombsward Catacombs Overview

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacomb spooky entrance

Tombsward Catacombs Overview

Boss

Cemetery Shade

Enemies

Skeletons

Notable Loot

Grave Glovewort

Lhutel The Headless Ashes

Tombsward Catacombs can be a bit tricky if you let yourself get overwhelmed by the skeletons, but if you're suitably geared up to deal with them and take precautions against them re-animating, you'll be okay - hit the skeletons when they're on the ground and glowing to get their runes and ensure they don't get back up again.

Outside the threat of the skeletons, this dungeon has a similar layout to other dungeons in the game that bear the 'catacombs' title, including a flame pillar that you'll have to make a well-timed run towards. You can find a few Grave Glovewort in addition to plenty Grave Violet items for crafting recipes throughout the dungeon, and you can get a fair amount of runes from killing every skeleton. The Cemetery Shade Boss has some fast attacks but predictable patterns that you can take advantage of to defeat them.

Dungeon Walkthrough

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Discovered Grace

You can find the entrance to the Tombsward Catacombs in the middle of the Weeping Penisula, inside the small mountain with the minor erdtree and erdtree avatar boss. Open the gates and head on down to touch the site of grace.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Mist Wall

Beyond the grace, you'll see a grey mist wall that you can open with if you have a Stonesword Key to pick up some extra loot. Be careful, though, skeletons will ambush you as soon as you enter this area.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Contraption Door

To progress, you can go past the grey mist wall room. You'll be able to find a door between some statues' locked by some contraption'. Turn the corner, and you'll arrive in the square-shaped room. Be wary of the skeleton throwing bombs on the left-hand side.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Square Room

From the square-shaped room, head down the stairs to a room with a second floor, take out the two skeleton archers that will appear, and then head left.

Around the corner, you'll notice flames erupting from a pillar at the other end of a long hallway. If you've completed the Stormfoot Catacombs dungeon, you may be familiar with this. You need to run into an alcove to the right in between bursts of flames. Make sure no skeletons are chasing you, and be aware that a skeleton will appear in the alcove.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Flames

In the second window of opportunity, run to the pillar and attack it to deactivate it. You can now head left of the pillar into a room with four chairs to fight a few more skeletons and get some Gloveworts (used to upgrade Spirit Ashes) from the ground.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Pillar

Return to the flame pillar room and stand on top of the deactivated pillar to progress. It will rise upwards, allowing you to move to the upper level, but watch out for the skeleton throwing bombs at you.

Head forwards into a room with a stone coffin. There's one skeleton archer and one with a scimitar on opposite sides of the room. Take both out quickly and head right.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Ominous Rooms

Head to the end of this hallway to pull a lever in front of a statue. This will open the door at the very beginning of the catacombs that was previously locked.

Elden Ring Tombsward Catacombs Lever

From here you can backtrack to the beginning of the dungeon and go through the newly opened door. Traverse the mist to take on the boss, Cemetery Shade.

Boss Guide

Elden Ring Cemetery Shade Boss

The Cemetery Shade is a fairly simple boss. It will move quite fast and attempt to slash at you rapidly with its bladed weapons. It can teleport and occasionally throw poison projectiles, and any hit from its weapons will apply the bleed effect.

The primary point of strategy with the Cemetery Shade is to be faster, and keep distance to utilise any ranged attacks you may have. If it throws its only projectile, you can hide behind the pillars in the room to avoid damage.

If it teleports directly in front of you, you'll need to roll out of the way quickly to avoid taking in bleed damage. Sometimes you can get a backstab whilst it's locked into a slicing animation if you can roll behind them.

Elden Ring Cemetery Shade Felled

Most of these attacks are clearly telegraphed through animations, and many of their melee attacks are easy to parry, so eventually, you'll be able to notice when one of these several attack types is starting and respond accordingly. After slaying the shade, you'll get the Lthutel The Headless spirit ashes and a nice chunk of runes.

Next: Elden Ring: Complete Guide And Walkthrough